1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cash transaction machine having an antitheft mechanism with at least a portion thereof installed in a housing including a hard outer wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, transactions including depositing and withdrawal of cash have been often automated so that cash transaction machines for conducting unmanned cash transactions such as ATMs (automatic teller machines) and CDs (cash dispensers) have been increasingly used. These cash transaction machines, which have been installed in great numbers at locations such as manned stores, are now being installed at a multiplicity of disperse places, such as unmanned stores, for the convenience of users.
On the other hand, the dispersion of places for installation increases the number of both installed machines and places of installation, while the cases where the machines are installed in remote places are increasing. The result is an increased number of cases of theft. In such, cases, the cash transaction machines are often destroyed by tools such as hammers and the cash stored in the machine is stolen.
To meet this situation, a method has been used to install a cash transaction machine, or especially, a cash storage unit thereof, in a safe-like housing having a thick, hard outer wall. The term xe2x80x9csafexe2x80x9d herein is defined as a box having a reinforced structure such that it cannot be destroyed in a short time. In the case where a cash transaction machine (a cash storage unit thereof, in particular) is arranged in a housing having a hard outer wall, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-306653, the antitheft effect can be improved, for example, by employing a safe-like housing having an engaging member which does not allow for easy disengagement between the door and the body of the safe even when an attempt is made to forcibly open the door by inserting a crowbar or the like tool into the gap between the body and the door of the safe.
Unlike the cash storage box disclosed in Kokai No. 10-306653, however, the cash transaction machine, which must dispense and receive cash between the interior and exterior of the safe, like housing, is unavoidably required to have an opening formed in the housing from which a customer service unit including an operation interface with customers and a cash gate port (or cash dispensing/receiving port) must protrude out of the housing. In the past, when the cash transacted was still small in amount, the opening of the safe-like housing was reduced in size to minimize the size of the customer service unit protruded out of the housing for preventing the theft of cash from the internal cash storage unit through the opening of the housing.
However, recently, an amount of cash handled in the cash transaction machine is increasing and as a result the cash dispensing/receiving device tends to be enlarged. Also, from the viewpoint of operation, demand has increased for a larger customer interface. This unavoidably increases the size of the cash gate port and the customer service unit including the customer interface, with the result that it is difficult to maintain a small opening of the safe-like housing.
Consequently, once the customer service unit protruded out of the safe-like housing through the opening is destroyed, the cash storage unit arranged inside of the safe-like housing can be attacked through the opening and cash can be brought out of it. It is required, therefore, to improve the antitheft capability of the cash transaction machine.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-184590 discloses a paper money dispenser equipped with an antitheft function in order to improve the antitheft capability of the cash transaction machine arranged in the safe-like housing having an outer wall with an opening. The improved antitheft capability of this paper money dispenser is derived from a security gate provided for closing the connecting space (cash transport passageway) formed between the safe for storing the paper money and the paper money dispense port. However, this requires a complicated mechanism for performing the functions described above and thereby gives rise to another problem that the machine becomes larger as a whole and the equipment is expensive.
The object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a cash transaction machine with an inexpensive, simple structure which includes at least a cash storage unit arranged in a safe-like housing formed with an opening, in order to solve the aforementioned problem, wherein a thief is prevented from stealing the cash, from the cash storage unit and through the opening, by destroying the portion of the housing protruded outwardly from the opening.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, according to this invention, there is provided a cash transaction machine having an antitheft mechanism which includes a housing including a hard outer wall with an opening, and a cash dispensing/receiving unit extending out of the housing from the inside of the housing through the opening, wherein at least the portion of the cash dispensing/receiving unit arranged outside of the housing includes an antitheft mechanism having a metal bottom plate, a transverse structure extending substantially parallel to the plane of the bottom plate, and a pair of metal side plates with the bottom ends thereof fixed to the bottom plate, the ends of the transverse structure secured to the side plates at a position above the bottom ends of the side plates.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the transverse structure of the cash transaction machine having the antitheft mechanism described above can include a cash carrying device.
According to another embodiment, the transverse structure can include a beam member.
Preferably, the bottom plate extends over a cash storage unit arranged inside the housing. Also, the transverse structure is preferably secured to the side plates by fastening means having a portion engaging the outer surfaces of the side plates.
In view of the fact that at least the portion of the cash dispensing/receiving unit arranged outside of the housing includes the bottom plate, a pair of the side plates fixed on the bottom plate and the transverse structure with the ends thereof fixedly secured to the side plates, when the portion arranged outside of the housing is destroyed in attempt to attack the internal cash storage unit through the opening of the housing, the side plates will be deformed inwardly (toward the portion between the side plates) and fall on the bottom plate by the transverse structure such as the beam member and the cash carrying devices secured to the side plates. The side plates are fixedly mounted on the bottom plate, and therefore the side plates and the transverse structure such as the beam member and the cash carrying devices are stacked on the bottom plate and block the opening.
In this way, the side plates and the transverse structure secured to the side plates perform the function of shutting out the access route through the opening of the housing to the cash storage unit arranged inside the housing, thereby making it possible to prevent the cash storage unit from being attacked through the opening of the housing to seize the cash from the cash storage unit.
On the other hand, the bottom plate and a pair of the side plates are the only main parts newly added to the cash transaction machine according to the invention as compared with the conventional cash transaction machine, and therefore, the structure for improving the antitheft capability according to the invention is simple and accompanied by no substantial increase in cost.
The bottom plate, if it extends over the cash storage unit and covers its upper part, is required to be destroyed to attack the cash storage unit directly through the opening. Since the side plates stacked thereon play the role of reinforcing the bottom plate, the attack against the cash storage unit arranged inside the housing becomes more difficult, thereby improving its antitheft capability.
Also, in the case where the transverse structure is secured to the side plates using fastening means having a portion engaging the surface of the outer portion (outside of the portion between the opposed side plates) of the side plates, it is not easy for the transverse structure to come off the side plates inwardly when an external force is exerted on the transverse structure. Thus, the inward deformation of the side plates is guaranteed.